Your Chemical Readings

[GIMojo]

What are the readings of

Alk-
Hardness-
PH-
Nitrite-
Nitrate-
Ammonia-

in your tank.

how large is your tank, what are you keeping in it, how old is it, and when was the last time youve had a full water change.

im just seeing what my tank shoukd be like. you you guys still remember your readings, post em please

 

[Zagz]

In my 29 gal mine are ammonia 0ppm, nitrites 0ppm, nitrates 20ppm, ph 7.4, and I don't have a test for alk yet.

 

[travis simonson]

Alk-13 dKH
Hardness- 18 dGH
PH- 7.2
Nitrite- 0 ppm
Nitrate- 10 ppm
Ammonia- 0 ppm

I keep African cichlids in a planted 125G tank. I have never done a full water change but perform a 50-70% water change once a week. My pH is artificially low due to CO2 supplementation

 

[GIMojo]

Alk-13 dKH
Hardness- 18 dGH
PH- 7.2
Nitrite- 0 ppm
Nitrate- 10 ppm
Ammonia- 0 ppm

I keep African cichlids in a fully planted 125G tank. I have never done a full water change but perform a 50-70% water change once a week. My pH is artificially low due to CO2 supplementation

YOUR TANK IS BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

 

[travis simonson]

Thanks I just love this hobby.

 

[GIMojo]

bump

 

[Jchillin]

30 gal

kh = <4dh
ph = 6.8
NH3/NO2 = 0
NO3 = >20ppm

75 gal - planted

kh = 7dh
ph = 7.4
NH3/NO2 = 0
NO3 = >5ppm

 

[BillD]

I don't know any of those things, and don't particularily care. Any fish I keep will have to live in the water I have available. Anything that stays alive in the LFS will live in my tanks, because the water is the same. Most of the fish I acquire come from club auctions, and again, they come from the same water source for the most part (Lake Ontario). I try to keep up with the water cahnges and leave it at at. Frequent large water changes, I believe keep the tanks from deviating from the parameters of the tap water. I feed lots and I know doing so will require more water changes. I also don't cycle tanks per se. If I pick up some unplanned fish, I will bring them home, and put them in a tank setup, while they are in the bag. Sometimes I have a seasoned filter, and sometimes I don't. I don't often have the luxury of setting up a tank weeks before acquiring fish. I know that I will have to do a few extra water changes while the cycle establishes it self, but have yet to have a problem with this. JMO.

 

[greenmaji]

I don't know any of those things, and don't particularily care. Any fish I keep will have to live in the water I have available. Anything that stays alive in the LFS will live in my tanks, because the water is the same. Most of the fish I acquire come from club auctions, and again, they come from the same water source for the most part (Lake Ontario). I try to keep up with the water cahnges and leave it at at. Frequent large water changes, I believe keep the tanks from deviating from the parameters of the tap water. I feed lots and I know doing so will require more water changes. I also don't cycle tanks per se. If I pick up some unplanned fish, I will bring them home, and put them in a tank setup, while they are in the bag. Sometimes I have a seasoned filter, and sometimes I don't. I don't often have the luxury of setting up a tank weeks before acquiring fish. I know that I will have to do a few extra water changes while the cycle establishes it self, but have yet to have a problem with this. JMO.

Old Timer!..LOL.. just kidding BillD.. If you do frequent pwc's parameters really dont matter is what is trying to be said here.
I personally think they matter though.. it matters when you have higher than 7 ph water in my opinion..
As far as mine go my tank still needs setup.. Im still shopping for some equipment currently..

 

[ChileRelleno]

75gal FW, one (1) 8.5" SL Tiger Oscar
NH3- 0ppm
NO2- 0ppm
NO3- 20-40ppm (average)
PH-7.
KH- 3DKH
GH- 6DGH
Two (2) 10gal FW, tank#1- One (1) male Betta, two (2) 1" juvenile SAE's
tank#2- three (3) female Bettas, six (6) 1" Black Neon Tetras
NH3- 0ppm
NO2- 0ppm
NO3- tank#1 5-10ppm tank#2- 5-10ppm (average)
PH- 7.
KH- 2DKH
GH- 4DGH (both tanks consistently measure the same KH/GH)

Full range of test weekly, 75gal NO3 tested bi-weekly.
25%-30%PWC's & GV weekly, 75gal 25%-30%PWC bi-weekly.
Filters cleaned as needed.
Feedings 1-2x per day.

 

[BillD]

Old Timer!..LOL.. just kidding BillD.. If you do frequent pwc's parameters really dont matter is what is trying to be said here.
I personally think they matter though.. it matters when you have higher than 7 ph water in my opinion..
As far as mine go my tank still needs setup.. Im still shopping for some equipment currently..[/quote]

What you say is true, I am an old timer. What you say about the alkaline pH is also true, and since my pH from the tap is 7.3, and tends to rise, I know that I need to change water, and lots of it. When I heard Dr joanne Norton say her fish have to lie on their sides to stay wet when she did water changes, I started to do bigger ones. Now I generally do at least 50%, or more if it has been too long since the last one. I don't always maintain a strict schedule, and some tanks go longer between changes, depending on the type of fish and whether there are plants in the tank, etc. Even those tanks that can go longer, I try and do regularly. I know the cycle will at some point stabalize, but that is no reason to cut back on water changes. There are all sorts of things in the water besides ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates, that need to be removed. Ultimately, no nitrates would be ideal, but that is not practical, so I try to keep it on the low end of what is considered acceptable. I have known about the nitrogen cycle since high school, which was a very long time ago, and the only way I have to deal with nitrates is to change water, and since all my tanks are clustered around the floor drain, it is a piece of cake.

 

[greenmaji]

Ammonia is more toxic to fish when the PH is above 7.. I dont think we mentioned that in our posts BillD..

 

[BillD]

Exactly, greenmagi, and yes, I should of thrown that in. You can cause serious distrees by putting a large quantity of high pH water into a low pH tank, as most of the ammonium, turns to ammonia. I have heard of large kills from this (in a fish store), when unbeknownst to the employees the tap water was much higher than the heavily stocked tanks (which of course were acidic), and there were "mysterious"deaths after every wayer change.

 

[GIMojo]

heres an update of mine

Ammonia- 0.25
Nitrate- 20ppm
Nitrite- 0ppm
Total Hardness- 120 ppm(i dunno what that translates into. help anyone?)
Total Alk- 80ppm
pH- 7.6 errrr thats bad right?

what do i need to bring up/down?

i have a chart that explains ammonia and pH in this little booklet i bought

Ammonia 0 + any level of pH is safe
Ammonia 0.25 + pH up to 8 is safe, pH 8.4 is stress and pH 8.8 is slow death
Ammonia .5 + pH up to 7.6 is safe, pH 8 is stress, pH 8.4 is slow death, pH 8 is rapid death

Im not gunna go further as I dont dont any of you have ammonia higher than .5

This is accurate.... right?

 

[Fubie]

10g planted w/co2
2 harlequin rasboras
2 siscor tail rasboras
2 fancy guppies
2 neon tetras
3 otocinclus
3 ghost shrimp
2 african dwarf frogs
1 gold mystery snail
1 black mystery snail

pH 7.2
ammonia 0ppm
nitrite 0ppm
nitrate 5ppm
7 dKH
7 dGH

 

[dnaelting]

70 gallon, 20gallon, and 10 gallon all share water params:

Ph 8
GH 14
KH 5

Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20-40

I do 3 gallon water change weekly on the 10, 5 gallon weekly on the 20, and 10 gallon water change weekly on the 70.

 

[greenmaji]

heres an update of mine

Ammonia- 0.25
Nitrate- 20ppm
Nitrite- 0ppm
Total Hardness- 120 ppm(i dunno what that translates into. help anyone?)
Total Alk- 80ppm
pH- 7.6 errrr thats bad right?

what do i need to bring up/down?

i have a chart that explains ammonia and pH in this little booklet i bought

Ammonia 0 + any level of pH is safe
Ammonia 0.25 + pH up to 8 is safe, pH 8.4 is stress and pH 8.8 is slow death
Ammonia .5 + pH up to 7.6 is safe, pH 8 is stress, pH 8.4 is slow death, pH 8 is rapid death

Im not gunna go further as I dont dont any of you have ammonia higher than .5

This is accurate.... right?

Once your tank completes its cycle you should never see a ammonia reading above 0 unless something bad happens to your bacteria..

And the 120 ppm Total Hardness is about 7 KH.. according to my experiance that is relitivly soft.. in other words good for everything but African cichlids.. and it has enough buffer to keep the PH from swinging.

Your ph came down from 8 to 7.6 right.. thats not bad.. its the nirtogen cycles acids that is droping the ph a little.. as I said you have some buffer in the water so it shouldnt drop real bad.. (like to 5 eek. 8O) Im assuming you didnt do anything to drop the ph the .4 of a point so it probibly did it gradually.. it seems like this is going to be your best indictor of whats going on.. PH that is.. keep a eye on it.. if it keeps droping you will need to do small frequent pwc's to get it back up closer to your tap water PH.. at the ammonia level your working with you could do a bigger water change but I think a .4 jump is too much.. I would only do at maximum a 25% pwc at the time of this testing..
Good Luck!!!

 

[GIMojo]

im also afraid my test trips are inaccurate. ill get some of those testers where you squeeze some formula into the test tube and the water changes colour today.

ill give you an update on the pH

 

[GIMojo]

i didnt use anything to drop the pH. i suspect my tank ill be cycled soon?
'
no casualties so far

 

[greenmaji]

If your PH readings are the same you need to do a 25% pwc..

And the indication that the cycle is over is 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and higher nitrate.